Eternity
by Anne Tutusuvich
Summary: Tony's life is changed when the aunt of his childhood best friend is found half dead on a a Naval Base. When he learns that there is more to the case than he originally suspected, and his friend is also in danger, Tony must make choices that could haunt him forever. Who will he be able to save? Book 1 in my series. Now Complete!
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for deciding to read this. This is the first story in my series, so if there are characters that are unfamiliar to you, that's okay. They aren't suppose to be. Anyway, please like comment and follow! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Tony's POV**_

 _ **NCIS Building**_

"Timothy McGee!" I shout the moment that elavator doors open.

My co-workers smile at this entrance, because they all know by now that this is my regular humor, and nothing is truly "wrong". I'm truly angry, but nothing is wrong. My dad flew in from New York to visit, and to introduce me to his new wife. Apparently he got married again. Yesterday during work, Tim agreed to come over to make the experience less cruel. He never answered my text to give him the time to meet up, and he never even showed. Meeting up with my dad and his new wife is never fun, especially alone.

"Tony! How's your dad and his wife?" he asks, smiling, but with a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

I mockingly laugh.

"You should know, Tim, but you stood me up," I answer, not yelling or coldly uttering. Just stating.

Tim looks at me weirdly

"You texted me and said that you wanted to hang out with them alone."

Liar.

"I sent you no such text, McFib."

We stare at each other for a split second, until the mystery solves itself.

"No, but I did, Junior," my father announces as he casually struts into the bullpen," Junior, you shouldn't invite your friends over to a family gathering.

I groan, and open my mouth to say something back to him, but Gibbs walks into the bullpen before I can even start to think of a response.

"We've got an attacked civilian on a Naval Base. Grab your gear." He tells us.

I just nod and grab my gear, then don't even acknowledge dad's presence as I leave him in the bullpen. The team gives me odd stares, and I decide to allow the awkwardness to sit for the time being.

 _ **-Crime Scene**_

Have you ever seen a familiar face who's name you just can't remember? You think to yourself, "Oh, I know her! She's... that girl..." This lady's face is so familiar it hurts. It kills me that I don't know who she is, even though I sorta do.

She's... that girl.

Woman, I mean. No offense to her, but she's aged. She's done it well, but she still aged. She's gotta be in her sixties, but I remember her as a young woman. Mid to late thirties? Maybe?

If that's the case, I was young when I knew her. Fifteenish.

Who is she?

"DiNozzo! Are you gonna bag and tag or are you gonna start-" Then before Gibbs can finish the "question", I see a woman running to the crime scene.

She tries to get through the tape, but McGee stops her. She groans and reaches into her pocket. Everyone but me points their guns at her, but start putting them down when we they see that she is taking out a badge.

"Relax, I'm with the FBI. What's going on? Where's my Aunt?" She asks, showing him her badge. The badge shows the woman with her dark brown hair in a braid that falls down onto her left shoulder, which is also strikingly familiar. Familiar just like the older woman.

"Your Aunt?" Gibbs questions.

She nods.

"My Aunt, Olivia Foster."

Olivia Foster?

I instantly remember who the women are.

"Alice?" I call out to her, and she instantly looks at me with a confused expression.

My eyes start to water as I clear my throat and correct myself.

"Al," I call again, weaker than before, because a few seconds and her looking straight at me gave me clarity. This is Alice Foster. She was my best friend during all of high school. I fell in love with her. She kept me going through the worst time of my life. For two years, because we met when we were fourteen, I had been depressed. The fact that my mother was dead hadn't fully sunken in, and dad wanted to abuse and neglect it into me. Wanted to remind me that I would never feel loved by a mother ever again. And that was because she was dead. Tiny little me endured that for two years, until Alice came into my life. She came, and I finally felt loved again. Dad had gone to jail for six months for credit card fraud, and Aunt Olivia, who babysat me at my house occasionally before hand, watched me for those six months. That's when I met and fell in love with Alice. Al.

"Tony!" She cries, and I push past McGee to give her a hug.

"Uh, you guys are being kinda rude," McGee tells us after he gets over his "oh so traumatizing push."

I laugh.

"Leave us alone, McKilljoy."

 _ **-NCIS BUILDING**_

Gibbs watches me carefully as I walk over to him, holding in my left hand a cup of hot chocolate for Alice. He is standing outside of the conference room, with Alice on the other side of the door, waiting. She's in even more pain than I am, I realize. I haven't seen Olive in a good thirty years, but Olive is her Aunt. Practically her mother. With all of that pain that Alice is going through, what right do I have to grieve? Yes, Olive was in my life for a while, and yes she did make such a huge impact. But Alice was Olive's baby. Olive raised her and was there during her birth. Olive didn't even know who I was, so what right do I have to say that I'm in pain? My goal and my job is to protect and comfort Alice, not the other way around. Any tear that I shed is just a sign of weakness, especially around her.

So, why I feel that I'm about to lose my mother all over again?

When I reach Gibbs, he just continues to stare at me. I lightly bounce as I wait for him to just let. Me see. Alice,

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" He asks.

I nod, though it is a lie. I don't want to face her. I don't want any of this at all. If I had to choose between seeing Alice like this and never seeing her again, well, I'd choose the latter. Who wouldn't?

I nod because I have to do this. For Alice.

Gibbs slightly frowns and opens the door, stepping in first. I walk in after him, an I see her. My mind didn't exactly process the fact that this is the Alice that I loved several years ago, and she's back. She hasn't changed much, either.

"Hey Tony,' she whispers.

I just smile, unable to form words.

"How is she?" Alice asks us, looking at us with pleading eyes.

Gibbs looks at me, waiting to see if I'm going to answer or if he is. I feel mute. My thoughts are so quickly forming and are so crazy and random, that my poor mouth can't form any words.

Finally I mutter, "she's in surgery. That's all that we know."

That's the truth. All that I know is the obvious. All that I know is that it doesn't look good, but I don't say it. She knows how bad it looks. However, we haven't gotten a call letting us know that she has lost the fight, so we're just going to assume that the woman still has a heartbeat. That's good.

Alice nods, hopefully not coming up with her next question. I know so little about how Olive is doing right now, and that's killing me too. I don't have that many memories of my mother. I know of events that happened, sure, and I may even remember what she did and sometimes even said if I see a picture. But the love she felt for me? How she said she loved me? The way her hugs made me feel? The smell of her perfume? Those are fading by the minute, unless I experience it again. Then it just makes me cry. Mom isn't exactly out of my mind an she never will be, but her memory is dim. But because of reasons I can't explain, my memories with Olive are still there, and they're strong. Maybe it's because I knew her for four long, life changing years. Maybe it's because I see so much of Olive in Alice, to the point where it seems that I'm talking to the same Olive that I said goodbye to.

My memories of Olive are so strong, and so suddenly, she crept back into my life, with a bullet in her stomach and punches and bruises on her face. When I only know the bad and I'm not given in depth answers, I always assume the worst. Maybe the bullet ricocheted and managed to puncture her heart, and they didn't find that out until she died. Irrational thoughts like that always fly through my mind when I'm not given answers, and I always manage to turn the most minor thing into the most major thing. This isn't even minor, so that just makes it worse.

If Alice asked for specifics, I would, without even thinking about it, pass on my beliefs and over dramatize every little detail until her mind is going crazy too, no matter how sane she is.

That is why I sigh in relief as she just looks down and nods, not asking questions. I forgot how much she knows me. She probably knows that I will just over dramatize everything, and she probably doesn't want to have to deal with that too. Can't blame her.

Suddenly, the scorching hot liquid in time left hand makes it's presence noticed, and I look down. Without realizing it, I hash crushed the container that held Alice's hot chocolate, and the liquid started running down my hand.

Alice smiles and laughs roughly, and her tears eyes suddenly pools out the tears that she was hiding. I smile and lightly chuckle at it too, relieved that the tension wasn't as noticeable at the moment.

Gibbs quickly shuts us both up with his glare.

"Sorry boss," I mutter.

Gibbs points to the door and then in the direction of the restroom, so I smile sadly and awkwardly at Alice, then I open the door to see Tim, Abby, Jimmy, and even Ducky standing at the door. I look at them in anger, although I was expecting it.

"Hey Tony," Tim and Abby say at the same time.

"Hi," I say back and wait before saying, "can you please move."

They do so and I walk to the bathroom, embarrased.

 _This will be fun..._

 _ **Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this so far! I couldn't come up with anything else, so I decided to end the chapter here. More to come!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's note: Hey everyone! I changed the story idea a little mid chapter and had to rewrite. Plus I've had almost no free time because we've been moving into a new house and I've been busy helping. One week before we move into a new house is not a good time to start a story, is it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading!**_

-Tony's POV NCIS Building-

Do you believe that someone can hold on to a love for thirty years without even seeing the other person? For thirty years I was skeptical. I replaced Ali again and again without much thought, but she would find her way into my thoughts almost daily. I would think about her so much, but I liked and sometimes even loved other women. Maybe I was just trying to replace her, because since her I've only loved two people; Wendy and Ziva. Well, Wendy I'm not too sure about.

After all of the women I've met, I still thought of and loved Ali a different way.

With that thought in mind, I work harder than usual on this case.

I hack into Olive's email account. I start sifting through all of the emails, and one catches my eye. It was sent exactly one week ago.

"Olivia Foster,

Next week will be the tenth year anniversary of my daughters death. You caused it. You'd better watch yourself."

I shake my head head and automatically trace the email. The email isn't a name, why would it be? It's just a bunch of random letters and numbers.

I quickly find out who the email belongs to. Her name is Lynn Peterson. I look her up and find several blogs about how much she hates the FBI.

Halfway through the blog, I understand what's going on. For a second I almost feel sympathy, but I stop it when I remember the pain this woman caused Ali. Well, I still feel sympathy but the anger is greater.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps and Gibbs's voice asking,

"What do you got?"

I take a deep breath and pull up Lynn's picture.

"This is the attacker. One week ago she threatened to kill Olive because apparently her daughter died and Alicd caused it. Her name is-" I begin, but then Alice interrupts.

"Lynn Peterson. Her daughter was named Violet Peterson. She was an FBI agent. Olive was her boss," she pauses before continuing, "and she was my partner. One day we were going to arrest a man who murdered a seven year old boy. We were checking out a room together and Violet was standing near the doorway. I went to the window to see if the man ran out of the house, and when I did that he snuck up behind her and grabbed her. He put his gun on her and told me to drop mine or he'd shoot her. Violet was like a little sister to me. I had to put the gun down and try to save her, so I did. He smiled at me because he knew he had control over me. I still remember that smile now. He took a breath to say something, but then I heard a gunshot, and someone fell to the ground. It wasn't the killer, it was Violet. Olive was in so much of a panic that she missed the man and shot Violet instead. She shot again and hit him. Violet died. Somehow, that day happened ten years ago. Olive hated herself for shooting Violet, and so did Violet's mother. Lynn swore revenge," she tells us, and I can almost hear the wounds being reopened.

"And she got it ten year later," Gibbs states.

Alice nods.

"I just don't understand why she didn't tell me." Alice says, mostly talking to herself.

I nod.

"Tony, obviously I can't be involved in the case. Lynn is the shooter, I know it. Please take her down," she asks me with urgency.

I nod again.

"I will chase her to Hell and back, Ali."

She smiles slightly at me. She has too much confidence in me. I could mess up. I could get someone killed. The people who I have let down in the past did trust me, but I don't think that anyone has ever put this much trust in me.

"Preferably keep her there," she instructs, and then gives me a slight nod and starts to walk to the elevator, but stops when her phone goes off.

"Hello?... Yes this is Alice... She is?... Are we allowed to visit her?... Okay great. Thank you. Bye..."

Alice turns back with a shocked look on her face.

"Olive made it out of surgery. It was successful, and she's about to move to the PACU. She's okay," she tells us, sounding just as shocked as she looks.

I smile in relief and hug her. Midway through the hug she puts her arms around me and hugs back. When I end the hug, she's smiling and looking at me with relief.

"She's okay," she tells me again, sounding so excited. I haven't seen her this happy and relieved in a while.

"I'm gonna go see her," she says.

Alice starts walking away, and Gibbs tells me to go with her. I hesitate, but he looks at me with sincerity so I go.

"Hold the elevator!" I yell at her.

Alice smiles and puts her arm in the way of the doors.

"I just realized what time it is. I have to pick up Erin from school. After I pick her up, I'll bring her to the hospital," she realizes.

I look at her with confusion.

"Erin is my daughter. She's seven. Nick is the father."

I nod. Nick is her high school sweetheart. Alice moved to California with her to try and pursue his music career.

"Wow, Ali. We've gotta get together some time and catch up. I figured that you and Nick broke up since you're here and not in LA."

She smiles and lightly chuckles.

"We eloped a few months after graduation. I would've told you and invited you, but you know how he feels about you. He didn't let me talk to you at all. And as for his music career, it completely failed. They didn't sell a single album. Well, they sold two-ish. His mother bought one and I bought one and didn't tell him to make him feel better about himself."

I smile.

"Who signed him and his band?"

She thinks for a second and almost bursts out laughing.

"A company that went out of business the next year."

The elevator makes it to the garage floor, and we laugh together as we step out.

"How is it going with you and Nick?" I ask her.

She stops laughing and looks ahead with a blank expression, thinking and choosing her words carefully before answering me.

"Horrible. As you know, we started off great, but now we act like strangers. I swear that he cheats, but in his defense, when he cheats, he's only sober half of the time. He's always gone and I'm always watching Erin alone. If I'm not home, Olive usually watches her," she answers with almost no emotion.

I sigh. I never liked Nick. Even though I loved Alice, I tried to respect and be friends with Nick, and I was at first. Then I watched him break her heart right in front of me, and she always brushed off my warnings as I slowly watched her bleed. I always worried about her and told her how she deserved better, but she never listened. She just took Nick's mistakes again and again, and she's just now starting to see that large pileup. Better late than never, I guess.

"You know what I want to say," I tell her, because she does. She has heard it again and again.

Alice stops in her tracks and looks at me.

"Please, just say it again. I need to hear it. I'm going to try and actually listen to you this time," she begs me.

I look her in the eye.

"You deserve so much better than him, and if he hurts you even one more time, he'll be hearing from me."

Alice half smiles and nods. She looks up then looks back down, fidgeting.

"Thank you Tone, I really appreciate it. But that's not what I was talking about."

I get it. I've never said it to her, but I've always "told it" to her, if you get what I mean. I have never verbally said the words, but I made it known the moment I fell for her. I hated it, but I couldn't help it.

"I love you Ali," I whisper to her.

She smiles.

"I love you too."

She never said it, but she always told me.

I can't help it. I lean in and kiss her, right there in the parking garage. I should feel guilt, but I don't. Nick cheated on her multiple multiple times, so really what does one little kiss do?

Though, it's not just a kiss to me. It is much more than that. It's not innocent, but neither are the several kisses that Nick surely have given other women.

The kiss breaks when Alice's phone goes off. She groans and pulls answers it.

"Hello this is Alice..." and she stops, her eyes flickering. Her breathing slightly intensifies, and after a while she asks, "is she going to be okay?... Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can... Bye" she whispers.

Alice hangs up and looks up at me with fear and tears in her eyes.

"She lost more blood than they thought. They weren't prepared for her to lose that much blood. She's dying Tony," Alice speed tells me.

"Okay, I'll take you there now," I promise her.

"No, I've gotta pick up Erin!" She tells me and goes to her car.

"I'll pick her up. You go to the hospital and I'll meet up with you there."

She shakes her head.

"You can't. You aren't allowed to pick her up because they don't know who you are. I'm going to be right there. Please just stay with her. She's in the ICU," she practically begs, then gets in her car.

I lose my strength and walk to my car. I'm losing my mother again, but this time I'll be old enough to remember everything.


	3. Chapter 3

-Tony's POV Hospital-

The moment I walk into Olive's room, I feel dizzy. She looks worse somehow. Her face is even more pale. She still looks pretty peaceful though, somehow.

I reach out and hold her hand. It limply allows me to do whatever I want it to do. When I put it on my hand, it plops right down without any fight. Olive would've smacked my hand before letting me hold it. She loves me and it's not that she hates it or anything, but her sense of humor is messing with people. I smile when I think to myself, "she's really good at it." I always said that her dying words would be playfully offensive. I never imagined her going out this way.

Her hand looks half dead, and that very well accompanies her half dead body and her pale face.

I remember what I learned from all of my hospital visits. The best thing I can do to help her wake up is talk to her. That's something I've wanted to do for thirty years, so why is it so hard to form words.

I gently squeeze her hand.

"Olive, it's Tony," I tell her in a hoarse voice.

Hey I'm Tony. I'm here babysitting your half dead body when I could be out trying to catch your attacker. You took me in for six months so I could avoid foster care when dad was put away for credit card fraud. Thanks for that, I'm going to repay you by doing absolutely nothing.

I feel antsy.

"Olive um, how are you doing?"

How is she doing? Well Tony, I'm sure she's been better. She's surely seen better days. Geesh the only time I've been this awkward near a woman was when she was actually a he.

I smile, thinking about all of the sarcastic comments Olive probably would've come up with if she could process anything.

I just think of what to say next. What is there to say? This woman was practically my mother for three years. She was practically my mother for three years while dad was my babysitter. I felt so much love near her, way more than I've felt from dad in my entire life. What is there to say about that? Of course I could say thank you, but she's heard that so many times that I just want to say something else. Something along the lines of "I love you mom," but I could never do that to my real mom.

Hey, Olive is Alice's aunt and adopted daughter, which made Alice like a sister to me, which is weird. That didn't change anything though, at least in Olive's mind. Olive never liked Nick either. She always told me how much she loved me and how she knew she would treat her niece with so much respect. That she wished that Alice would just move on from Nick and realize how much of a "great guy" I am.

I met Alice when I was in ninth grade and she was in tenth. There was a program going on at our school where three of the best students in each grade 10th and up would lead their own group of freshman during orientation to help them get used to the school. She lead my group of ten students. She was being super nice, funny, and helpful the whole time, and yes I flirted. When I asked her why she wanted to help, because she could've asked for someone else to take her place she responded, "because I think 9th graders are adorable and tiny." She was a pretty tiny tenth grader, which made it more adorable when she called ninth graders adorable, considering the fact that she was just one year older than us.

We also had math together. We both had tenth grade math. I was ahead so they put me there, and even though Alice was super smart, math wasn't really her thing. I helped her out and we became friends. I ended up coming to her house every single day to help her study. Our houses were a walking distance away, we always wanted to hang out, and frankly I wanted to get away from dad. I was going to ask her to be my date for Homecoming, but she had met Nick a week before and she had just agreed to go with him. I just stayed home and cried that day. That was okay because, according to her Nick and her were "practically boyfriend and girlfriend so it's wrong for us to hang out all of the time," so we couldn't hang out that night. Dad's hateful screams were extra painful that day because by then, I was used to laughs.

Alice hated my dad by then. I always told her when dad yelled. She was always there. But that was the first time that I kept it to myself. The first time.

I ended up coming over twice a week instead of seven. I know that seeing her all the time at school and twice a week at home may seem like a lot, but with how dad was, she was one of my only form of happiness, and she was taken away five days out of the seven in a week.

Now that she's back, why do I feel so dead?

"Still talk to yourself quite loudly, huh Tony?" I hear Ali ask, and when I turn around I see her tiredly smirking with a scared-looking girl holding Ali's hand. I stare at them, speechless, realizing that I was saying everything that I was thinking.

"How is she?" Ali asks.

"She hasn't woken up yet."

She nods and brings Erin further into the room. Erin looks at Olive from time to time, but strangely enough her focus is primarily on me.

"Hi Erin. I'm Tony," I tell her.

Erin continues to stare, and we all just stand there, lost in our thoughts until the nurse comes in.

"Hey I'm Nurse Blackwood but you can call me Karen. I'm sorry to say this but we only allow two visitors in at a time in the ICU so I'll need one of you to leave," she tells us, sounding like she feels bad.

I nod and get up.

"It's for the best. I've gotta go anyway," I tell everyone.

After I hug Ali and pat Erin on the had, I leave without looking back at Olive.

-NCIS Building

I walk into the bullpen to find McGee waiting. He looks at m with genuinely concerned eyes, which troubles me. Where's the unwelcoming welcome that makes me feel better and want to punch him in the face?

"Got anything Tim?"

Tim nods.

"Yeah, Tony. I've got a dead body and a finished case.'

Wasn't expecting that.

Tim takes the remote for the monitor and clicks a button. Lynn's face comes up.

"Lynn was in fact the attacker. We have forensic evidence to support that. I found her phone number and traced it back to her house."

I look at him with annoyance.

"So what are you waiting for McGee? An invitation? Why aren't you at her house?"

He looks at me sadly. I hate that face.

"Gibbs and I went there and found Lynn dead," he tells me then clicks a button. The monitor shows a completely charred car and continues, "she killed herself Tony. The note that she wrote said 'the best gateway to Hell is Hell itself.' She got in her car and set it on fire."

He clicks again and I see the note. All one sentence with her signature under it. I stare. It can't be that easy, can it? I need to find her in some alley or on a ship and confront her and be just seconds from death when I suddenly shoot her or stab her to death or throw her from a high distance. It can't be as easy as my friends finding her dead body.

Can it?

"Do we have a positive identification?" I ask, noticing that the body is completely charred and could be a guy for all we know.

Tim looks at me.

"The suicide note has her handwriting on it, it's her car, it's on her prop-"

"Do we have a positive identification?" I repeat.

Tim shakes his head.

"No, Ducky and Jimmy are collecting DNA and will send it to Abby when they're ready," he starts then looks me right in the eye before continuing, 'but it IS her. You know that right?"

I smile coldly at him.

"I've known lots of stuff that wasn't true. It's a part of life."

Tim nods, looking slightly annoyed.

Frankly I don't care.

"I'm going back to the hospital to check on Olive. She should be waking up soon. Let me know the moment that anything happens, okay?"

He nods and I leave him there to babysit everyone as they make sure that the dead person who is bound to be Lynn is in fact Lynn.

-Hospital

I walk into the empty room. Well, almost empty. Ali and Erin are gone, but Olive is there and she's awake.

She turns with a shaky head and smiles a shaky smile.

"Tony!" she calls with outstretched hands.

I smile and practically run at her and hug her.

"Oh Tony! It has been so long."

I nod. Thirty years is quit a while. It really makes you realize what you had before those thirty years started. What you had for those year that you had what you waited for thirty years.

"Yeah," I whisper.

In the middle of the hug she gasps in pain. She gasps and moans and I don't know what to do.

"Olive!" I yell at her as I press the call button.

Suddenly her heart monitor starts changing. She looks weaker and weaker. She gasps again and holds my face in her hands.

"Tony, Tony promise me that you'll keep my baby safe," she begs me, referring to Ali.

I nod, and I'm lightly pulled away when people rush in calling orders to one another.

"We're losing her!" a nurse yells, and I had had enough.

I back up out of the room, and I realize just how sick Olive is. She's not getting out of this, is she? She's the dead man walking, I realize.

I hear the heartrate monitors flat line and someone yells "shock her!"

The last thing that I promised her was an promise that could very well be broken. I'm not strong enough to protect Ali.

Although it'll be hard and I may still ultimately fail, I will try my best to protect Ali. I'll do it for Olive's sake.

-Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed! Sorry that the ending was a little weird. My mind decided to be done writing for the day, but I didn't want to wait any longer just because I started having trouble with the last couple paragraphs. Anyway everyone, please like, follow, etc. Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**_Author's Note: Wow! It's been a really long time since I uploaded. Really sorry about that. I got a hate comment and just wanted to take a break, after writing a childish reply. Overall I handled the situation very childishly, and I apologize for that. But what's done is done. Well, to you fans of Blood Ran Cold (previous fanfic), I'm thinking about making a sequel. Would you like to continue with that story or do you think that that story should be left alone? I'm getting mixed feelings on the whole thing. Just please let me know. Anywho, hope you enjoy. :-)_**  
"Tony, promise me you'll keep my baby safe," I hear her say again.  
What did she mean by that? Does Olive still feel threatened? Does she think that someone will come after Alice? I can't let that happen, but stuff that I promised will never happen happened anyway. Am I really that weak? That useless and defenseless? I don't even know who or what I'm defending, or what I'm defending it or them from. I never got the chance to ask Olive about what happened. And I may never be able to.  
Olive's pain-filled face gets burned into my skull yet again. How did it happen so quickly?  
"You here for Olivia Foster?" a kind-looking female nurse asks me.  
She has chocolate brown hair and big brown eyes. Her hair brushes against her rosy cheeks with the perfect amount of blush. She looks at me with genuinely caring eyes. She looks like the kind of girl I'd endlessly pursue since I lost Kate. Why don't I feel any kind of attraction at all.  
 _Because you care about Alice and you let her down,_ I tell myself.  
Her pretty brown eyes look right at me.  
"Sir?" she asks, looking really concerned.  
I actually shake my head to get out of my trance, and I realized that I've probably been staring at her for a solid five seconds.  
Great, now I'm flirting without even trying. Pathetic.  
"Yeah, sorry. But yes, I am here for Olive. Sorry, Olivia," I stutter.  
She smiles and nearly chuckles. She really is beautiful. Where is my desperate pick-up line?  
"It's okay. I've got good news and bad news about Olivia. She's calmed down now, which is the good news. But her organs are shutting down due to the lack of blood. Because of her low blood levels, she isn't getting enough air to her brain. We're having a shortage of her blood type, O negative. That's our fault, she needs way more blood than we originally thought. I hate to say this sir, but she's on life support now. We're putting a rush on the blood, but it isn't looking too good. I'm very sorry."  
She looks at me with so much guilt. She genuinely cares about this situation, about Olive, and about me. She messed up bad, but I can't be too mad at her. That's how weak I feel right now. I can't muster up enough energy to feel one more ounce of anger or hatred. Disappointment and sadness, sure. My mind always seems to make room for that. Go figure. I have a huge chamber in my brain reserved just for sadness and disappointment, and it's so unbelievably big. The chamber is somewhat empty, but it's so unbelievably big that you could gather up all of the sadness and disappointment in this depression club that we call a hospital, and only then would it have even the slightest bit of a possibility of being full. So the fact that it's halfway full and quickly filling up, shows quite a bit.  
I'm sad that we're in this situation to begin with. I'm disappointed in these people for putting Olive in even more danger. I'm disappointed in myself for thinking even for a split second about how pretty this nurse is. But at the same time I'm disappointed in myself for dwelling in this girl for thirty years even though she made her decision clear, and I'm disappointed in myself for caring about her so deeply. And how in a million years could Tim leave it at, "Lynn is probably dead." In my eyes, she's alive and well until I see her charred or gunshot filled cold lifeless corpse on the equally cold autopsy table being cut open by Ducky's cold cutting tools. I'm disappointed in myself, because I myself am cold on the inside. I don't care about what Lynn did, you should never want to see someone in that much pain, and especially not dead. By all means you can feel joy in it actually happening, but you should never wish it on someone. But I wish it on her, and I want to kill her just like she did to Olive.  
And I'm disappointed in myself for moping around and feeling sorry for myself when a killer could potentially be on the loose.  
I just nod at her and allow my heart to break for two more seconds, and then turn around without a second look.  
 **-NCIS Squad room**  
I walk in the bullpen with full determination. Like I said, in my eyes Lynn is still alive. And that just doesn't work for me.  
"What do we have, Tim?" I ask him, noting that there is still no Gibbs in sight.  
"Tony! How's Olive?" He asks me.  
"Not too good Tim. Now what. Do. We. Have?"  
He looks at me with sadness, and I just look at him with anger. My look screams, "TELL ME OR DIE!"  
He stutters over his words, and I almost reach out and choke him right there. Almost.  
Finally he gets his words together.  
"Tony, Lynn wasn't in her car. She's fine. Someone else was in the car."  
I look at him with anxiousness. I knew it! But triumph is the last thing that I feel.  
"Do you really feel the need to have an invitation to tell me who really was in the car?" I ask him.  
He looks at me with regret then grabs the clicker for the monitor. He clicks a button and an all too familiar face popped up. The face that helped start this all.  
"Her father, Brian Hart. The man who neglected Ali and her sister after their mother and sister died in a car crash. He locked Erin in her room all day and Ali couldn't save her. Her sister now thinks that Ali neglected her too. He did this to them for three years until he got arrested for child neglect. That's when Ali and her sister moved in with Olive. But Alice still loves him anyway."  
Tim nods.  
"He also received an email from Lynn the day before his death. Lynn is after Alice now, and she got all of the information she possibly could from Brian. She knows that Olive is alive and weak, and she knows what hospital she's in. She knows that Alice is here and has a daughter, and she plans on killing Olive, Alice, and Alice's daughter," Tim tells me with urgency.  
My eyes widen. This can't happen. Not to Alice.  
"Keep my baby safe."  
"Keep my baby safe."  
"Keep my baby safe."  
I nod. I know what I have to do.  
"Get Alice and her daughter a safe house. Assign three agents to look after her an-" I start, but I'm interrupted.  
"We can only spare four agents for this case, Tony. And they are already protecting Olive."  
I nod. I have a choice here. I can't lose Alice, but is ripping her heart right out of her chest and betraying her in her time of need any better? Can I take the very hope of happiness that I give her and pull it right out from under her? That's almost as hard as losing her.  
Almost.  
"Keep my baby safe," I hear the dying woman whisper, and I realize that I need to do just that. She is Olive's baby. She is my "baby" if you consider secret pet names. She is her daughter's mother. I can't let her die. I can't do it. I've gotta keep Olive's baby safe, even if it kills Olive. Even if it kills me.  
"Get Alice and her daughter a safe house. I'll bring her there and stay there and help with the case from there. Take three of the agents assigned to Olive and tell them to protect Alice instead."  
"But Olive will only have one agent to protect her and Alice will have four!" Tim objects.  
"I don't care! Just do it. Agent Gibbs is doing undercover work right now and he's unavailable, which means I'm your boss, Agent McGee. And I gave you strict orders that you are to follow to the letter. Am I clear, Agent McGee?" I ask him, taking out all of my anger and agony on the guy I love like a brother.  
Anger shows in his face for a split second but then he looks at me harder. He sees my pain and worry. He sighs and relaxes. Now he shows sympathy and even understanding.  
"Please Tim. I can't lose her too," I whisper.  
He nods.  
"Okay Tony. Just please don't give up on Olive."  
When he says that, something hits me. A memory that I can't believe I actually forgot.  
It was the first time I met Olive.  
 _My fifteenth birthday was coming up, but dad didn't want to celebrate. I told Ali and she I insisted that would get the best party ever._ _  
_ _I didn't realize how well she'd deliver._ _  
_ _The party was at Alice's house. The music was blasting and we had the best time ever. Olive made sure to talk to me whenever Ali had to leave to do something. She was really nice to me. I hung out with them for hours until dad called their house, demanding that I come home that instant. He screamed so loud that when I said okay and hung up, I burst into tears. I opened up and told Ali and Olive everything. I told them about how my mother died. I told them that my father abused and neglected me. I begged them to promise not to tell anyone for several minutes until they finally reluctantly agreed._ _  
_ _I knew it was time to leave, so Ali gave me a huge hug and a real quick peck on the cheek._ _  
_ _I looked at Olive, embarrassed. I had told her that I hadn't felt love from a grown woman in almost five years. Tears streamed down her face and she gave me a hug that was bigger than Alice's._ _  
_ _"I love you kid," she whispered to me._ _  
_ _After that, I knew that I was capable of being loved. I have Olive to thank for that_.  
I snap out of my trance and look at Tim.  
"I won't Tim."


	5. Chapter 5

I leave the NCIS building feeling very conflicted. Am I making the right choice? I have to be. But if I go through with this, Ali will hate me forever. But is that a bad thing? Didn't I decide long ago that she deserves better than the broken boy who throws himself at her every chance he gets? But is the broken boy as bad as he thinks he is, or is he everything that Ali has ever wanted and needed? Her future is not something I want to toy and experiment with, but sometimes risks make you stronger. Her future and Erin's future could be everything they ever wanted with the right man, and I could be the right one. And it's impossible for them to have this future if Ali gets mindlessly slaughtered when I'm supposed to be protecting her.

But what about Olive? If Lynn goes after Olive, I'll have signed Olive's death warrant. Her family will be broken. Erin will be broken. Ali will be broken.

That's not what I want either.

Decisions. Decisions.

I already gave the order, and having no mother is worse than having no grandmother, as horrible as losing a grandmother is.

That's it. I've gotta do it.

I pull out my phone and open up my texts with Ali, and I write a new message:

"You up for an adventure?" I type.

I look at my phone, heart racing. What I'm doing could make her hate me forever.

"Ummmm, what kind of adventure?" She replies.

I smile apprehensively. She can't know why, so I'll tell her a half truth.

"Ugh, if you must know, I wanna get to know Erin. Wanna meet up, just the 3 of us?"

The text instantly shows up as "read" but she takes a second to start typing.

"Sure... But that's not much of an adventure...?" She responds.

I laugh.

"I'm exploring the mind of a little girl. That's an adventure." I type, feeling horrible.

She doesn't know that I'm putting her aunt's life in danger. She's always been naive, but I've never taken advantage of her. At least not like this.

"Ummmm, you're weird... But okay. When and where?"

"ASAP. I'll pick you up from your house, if that's okay with you. I'm assuming Nick is at his usual place?"

Again, she takes a second. I can practically feel her agony.

"You mean at the bar with a few dozen women? If that's the case.. Then yup."

I frown.

"Oh. I'm sorry :-(See ya in ten."

"Okay."

I start driving over, and I feel a tear run down my face. I don't know if it's because of Nick, Olive, or both. Probably both.

Hospital

 **Meanwhile, at the hospital, a woman prepares to finally do what she's wanted to do for so long.**

 **Lynn strolls through, looking like a nurse as she walks through the halls of the same hospital Olive is in. No one knows who she really is, much less what her intentions are.**

 **Lynn, or "Nurse Gleason" as it says on her ID badge, walks to the nurses station like every other nurse. She walks up to the perfect nurse: an experienced nurse who doesn't appear to care much about protocol.**

 **"Hello. I'm a new RN here. My patient, Olivia Foster in room 312. Where is her room? I'm sorry, this was kind of a last minute thing so I still don't know where everything is," she asks, playing the "genuinely confused person" card perfectly.**

 **Little does anyone know how sure of her actions she truly is.**

 **The real nurse looks at Lynn.**

 **"Nurse Gleason, I understand that you're new, so I'll let you off with a warning. But for future reference, this is a hospital where you need to do your tasks in an orderly and quick fashion. Her room will be down the hall through the double doors. Please keep that in your mind so you can do this quicker in the future," she answers with a lot of annoyance in her voice.**

 **"Yes ma'am," Lynn whispers, acting perfectly like a confused and scared little new graduate RN.**

 **I won't be doing this in the future. Olivia will already be dead, she thinks to herself.**

 **"This is what you get," she whispers as she nears the double doors.**

Ali's House, Tony's POV

I pull into Ali's driveway, hearing screaming.

"Don't touch me!" A very familiar female voice shouts, followed by a loud scream from a child's voice.

"Get off of her!" The child screams.

I grab my gun. If someone is hurting them, I won't arrest them. I'll take their face off with my gun.

Suddenly I hear screaming from a man, and then the front door slams open and shut. I point my gun right at the man.

"NCIS!" I scream to him.

The man looks up at me and puts his hands up, looking petrified.

"Whoa!"

He realizes it's just me and he laughs.

"Hello Anthony. Haven't seen you in a while," then after staring at me for a second yells "Alice!"

I hear the slamming of a cabinet.

"I'm talking to MY daughter right now!" She screams.

"She's mine too and DiNozzo is here and he's gonna try to shoot me in point five seconds if you don't get out here."

She walks out on the driveway and sees me with the gun. She has a little bit of blood coming out of her lip.

"Ali did he hit you?" I scream, tightening my grip.

Yeah, I don't care about what happens to me. I WILL shoot him if he antagonizes me just once.

"Yes Tony but please don't kill him. He was just leaving to go on a date with some girl he met at the bar. Oh and Nick, Shelly will be down in a minute. She's just gotta put her clothes on before she goes home to take a shower. She wants to wash the filth off," she says in an angry voice.

"You really want to talk about this right in front of your little boyfriend?"

She shakes her head and stares at him with a blank expression.

"I'm going to be late for my date with Carol. I expect you to be here when I get back," he tells her, then gets in his car and immediately turns the stereo up on high and pulls out a cigarette before driving.

I look at her when he leaves.

"He hits you?" I ask her.

She shakes her head.

"Not really. Not often, I mean. If he uh, he's drunk or mad he may ya know, hit me every once and a while, but it's fine." She says, stuttering.

Never before have I seen her nearly at loss for words.

"That doesn't make it okay," I tell her.

She fidgets and then shrugs.

"It doesn't matter."

I look at her with longing and with fear. I love her. She's been hurt time and time again, and still she's yet to find her voice. She thinks it's okay, and that she deserves it. She's happy, but not in the way she should be. She's happy in the virtual reality that Nick has created for her, making his criticism of her seem okay and even normal to her. To her, him criticizing and hurting her is the only "right" way. In reality, it's not the right way if she can't accept herself for the amazing person that she really and truly is. I have got to get her out of that house.

"Do you still want to hang out?"

Her gaze softens and her shoulders drop. She smiles that relaxed smile that she only has with me.

"Of course. Where are we going?" She asks.

I smile.

"It's a surprise."

At the Hospital...

 **Little did Alice or anyone else know that was happening just across town.**

 **Lynn finally made it to Olivia's room. Finding it was tedious, but well worth it. That nurse's vague description didn't help much. It's okay though.**

 **It'll all be over soon, this mess. She whispers that to herself three times again and again, louder each time.**

 **"All of the pain that you've put me through will be all over soon," she says in a clear and slightly loud voice.**

 **She catches herself and quiets down. Soon she resorts to stroking Olivia's cheek. She doesn't have enough energy to respond.**

 **Maybe if Lynn is lucky, Olivia can hear her.**

 **"It'll all be over soon."**

Tony's POV, Safe House

I pull into the small cottage that we call a safe house. It isn't bad, and it's actually quite cozy.

I look over to the passenger and back seat. Ali is sleeping, and Erin is playing on her mother's phone. I smile.

"Wake up Ali."

She jolts upright, panting. Then she looks at my confused expression and calms down instantly.

"Sorry I just had a bad dream."

I nod at her.

"We're here," I tell her.

She nods and looks back at her daughter and smiles. I can see the love she has for her daughter in her eyes. She shakes her head at the little girl playing on her phone. She reaches her hand out and Erin gives her a fake glare before putting the phone in her hand.

"She downloaded an app on my phone," she says and then looks up at the house before asking," where are we?"

I think for a second. Well, I don't want her to know the truth of course so my genius of a brain says…

"Oh, we're at my house," I tell her.

She gives me a weird look.

"I've seen your apartment."

Oops.

"Well, it's a friends house technically. I claim it as my second house when he's away. And yes I'm allowed," I lie, with the words smoothly running past my lips.

She smiles and rolls her eyes.

"But let's go," I tell her, getting impatient.

I don't want her to see the NCIS agents that will start swarming the outside of the house at any second.

At The Hospital…

 **Meanwhile, Lynn was taking advantage of the fact that NCIS was putting all of their defenses on the wrong person.**

 **"I almost feel bad about this. You don't stand a chance! That was the most pathetic excuse of security that I've ever seen. But it's alright. I don't mind it if they make my job easier."**

Tony's POV, Safe House

I slouch on the couch while Ali helps Erin get ready in her room. By get ready, I mean Ali is helping her get her tablet plugged in.

I get a text from Bill, the leader of all of the people who will be defending us.

"Tony, we're all set. If anyone tries to hurt you, they'll go down."

I smile and look around. They're all in place.

Ali walks out of Erin's room.

"Sorry about that. And uh, I don't think Erin will be out for a while. She's playing a game," she tells me.

I nod and pat the spot next to me on the couch. She comes over and sits, looking at me with curiosity.

"What's going on with you and Nick? Has hitting become a thing?"

She looks at me uncomfortably.

"I already answered that question, Tony."

She looks down at her hands.

"Yeah but you sugarcoated it because I had a gun to his head. Why don't you tell me the truth this time?"

She looks at me with so much discomfort. I hate doing this to her, but I have to know.

"I told you about the cheating. Nick is usually at a bar when he meets up with women, so he usually comes back drunk and angry. The hitting started when the whole thing with Olive started. He cares about her and I get angry easier because of what's going on. The hitting happens because he's stressed, and it's only happened three times in all of our years of marriage. It's not that bad."

I nod. She doesn't realize how serious it really is. It's just going to get worse if Olive dies...

Suddenly I realize how bad this plan is. Is it understandable that I gave Ali more protection? Sure. But I gave Olive no chance.

I need to snap out of this. I can't freak get out, and what's done is done.

"You deserve better."

She nods slightly, trying to convince herself that I'm right. It'll just escalate and get worse.

I look at her and give her a small kiss on the cheek. She smiles and blushes.

"You know, if I could go back in time and change who I chose, I would," she tells me.

I smile slightly.

"If I could go back and make you chose me I wouldn't. I can't make your choices for you. But I would've fought harder. I wouldn't have encouraged you to go with him."

Alice grins.

At The Hospital...

 **Lynn said all that she wanted to say. She set her peace, verbally at least.**

 **"Goodbye Olivia," she finishes, and then she unplugs the machine that had her in life support.**

 **She smiles and turns the heart rate monitor back on, then pats Olivia on the shoulder and leaves, with the heart rate monitors starting to blare right after she leaves.**

 _Tony's POV, Safe House_

Suddenly I get a text. Ali thinks it's hers so she grabs it and reads it. She gasps.

"So Bill says that Olive has no security because her security decided to leave, and he wants to know if you want him to have one person looking at the safe house that we're in so she can be protected. Why don't you tell me the truth, Tony?"

I look at her with guilt.

"This is a safe house. I brought you here to protect you."

"And Bill?"

"He's one of people stationed outside to protect us."

Her gaze softens but her body tenses. I don't know how she feels about this. I she angry? Disappointed? Confused? All three?

"Tony you don't need to do that I-" but then she's stopped when her phone rings.

"Hello? Yes... What?! I'm on my way!" She hangs up the phone and runs to Erin's room.

"Erin! Get your stuff! Hurry!" She yells.

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"Someone snuck in and took Olive off of life support!"

Tony's POV, Hospital

Ali raced out of the car as soon as we got to the hospital.

When we finally caught up with her, she was is Olive's room, crying on Olive's body.

"Mommy!" Erin yells at Ali, sobbing.

She looks up at us, shocked. She goes over and hugs Erin.

"Honey, I need you to go to the bathroom real quick so I can talk to Tony," she whispers.

Erin looks over to the bathroom in Olive's room. She goes in with hesitation. Ali doesn't want her to hear her tear me apart.

Erin steps in and Ali turns that light on and lightly shuts the door.

Ali turns around with tears pouring out of her eyes. I start crying too. My heart breaks when I realize what is going on, so she doesn't need to clarify, but finally she does.

"She's dead," Ali tells me in a cold voice.

"Ali-" I start.

"It's Alice," she corrects me.

I frown and start crying even more.

"How many people were protecting us, Tony?"

I look down at Olive. I just killed her. Someone came in and took her off of life support, and I let them.

"Three," I answer.

She nods.

"So I had four people and a safe house. How many people did Olive get?"

I hesitate. I can't believe that I did this to her.

"One."

Ali raises her eyebrows. Her eyes fill with anger and even a little hatred.

"One?!"

"Olive said that they would probably try to hurt you so I-"

"So you took three people away from the woman who was in immediate danger to give to the one that may be attacked at some point?"

The way she explains it makes me realize how stupid I really am.

"I couldn't let them hurt you."

She shakes her head.

"Yeah well this hurts pretty bad too."

A fresh tear falls down.

"Ali I-" I start, but then I'm interrupted again.

"It's Alice! Do you understand?" She screams and then whispers, "you need to go."

My eyes widen.

"Alice-"

"Go! Get out of here!" She screams.

The well behind my eyes burst, and I turn around so Ali can't see the resulting waterfall.

"We all came in the same car.

Take my keys so you can drive home whenever you want. I'll take a taxi. Just bring my car back whenever you can, please." I whisper to her when I collect myself.

She shakes her head.

"No thank you. Erin and I will take a taxi," she tells me.

I nod.

"I know you didn't mean to do this, but I just can't look at you the same right now. I'll text you when I calm down. And yes you are invited to her funeral if you want to go."

I nod again.

"Thank you. I'm so sorry Alice," I tell her.

"Me too," she whispers, and I leave.

I walk out, feeling my heart being stabbed as I listen to Ali and Erin's sobs.


	6. Chapter 6

Olive died a week ago today. Seven days. Seven days. I just don't understand how seven days can translate to a meager seven minutes in my mind. Because of the mistake that I made seven days ago, I'm now staring at Olive's coffin. She's so white and stiff that it makes my heart ache. It tears me apart. Why does my mistake have to hurt people so tremendously? Am I really this much of a screw up? Guess I am. Though, it's not much of a surprise now that I think about it.

I eyeball Ali and Erin. Erin is weeping in Ali's arms, and Ali is barely containing herself, no matter how much her baby needs her to stay strong. A human can only go through so much without breaking. They stare at Olive's coffin as it gets hoisted up in the air. But for some reason, it keeps going up. And up. And up.

We all look at the person who is hoisting her up. It's funny how little attention we tend to pay to the people who control so much while sitting on the sideline. But sometimes you wish that person would just remain unnoticed o the sideline. This is one if those times, because when we look over, we quickly realize that Lynn is the one hoisting her up. She grins at us. Then she pulls out a gun and aims it right at a target we didn't expect.

She aims it at Erin.

She snickers and pulls the trigger, and my heart shatters at the sound of a child's blood curdling scream.

Only when I gather up the courage to look, do I see the truth. Ali jumped in front of Erin, and now Erin is weeping over her dead body. Everyone haas crowded around by now, but I just fall to my knees. My eyes flood themselves, and the tears build up so much that my eyes feel heavy and get blurry. I try to blink my tears away, but I can't. I can't move at a muscle. What's wrong with me? I've lost all capability of moving. i can barely even breathe. Suddenly I just collapse on my back and sob. I sob until everything turns pitch black. The pitch darkness is filled with tears that just refuse to escape. They just won't do it.

That's when I realize that I was only dreaming. Or nightmaring, as I'd like to call it. That nightmare just seemed all too real, and I lose courage. My eyes feel glued shut, so i just lie awake and think.

Maybe one day I'll wake up and this will all be over. Do you ever get that feeling? That feeling that makes you think that no human being actually goes through this much pain? That it's a bad dream that you can just hope you'll wake up from soon? People say that hard times just make you stronger, but I'm questioning that belief. I'm not stronger. All of my remaining energy just dissolved. How can something build you up when the resulting thing strips me of all of my energy?

If this truly makes me stronger, then I'll be nothing short of invincible.

But invincibility is something I'll never be able to acquire.

-That Same Morning-

I walk in the bullpen with hesitation. What am I doing here?

I get glances. Everyone knows. I want attention, but not this kind. Gibbs's glance is what gets me the most. He came back right after he heard about what happened.

I set my stuff down and he instantly shakes his head.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing here?" He asks, with his voice sounding slightly sympathetic.

I look at him in his icy blue eyes and open my mouth, but nothing comes out. How do I explain to my mentor who taught me so much, that I failed so horribly?

"I can't just sit at home and watch when Lynn is still out there," I half whisper- half shout. I don't speak in a normal voice, but more of a firm squeak.

Gibbs opens his mouth to talk, but I stand in a way that screams "if you try to make me leave, I may try to kill you." He frowns and nods.

Did we seriously just have a full fledged argument solely with head shakes and facial expressions?

"Go check in with Abby," Gibbs calmly instructs me, with HIS body screaming, "I get that you're hurting, but if you mess this up, I WILL kill you."

I nod and exit.

-Abby's Lab-

I walk into Abby's lab, Caf Pow! in hand, and the sound of rock music and the sight of a dancing Abby is what I'm greeted with. The fact that she's dancing right now is actually bothersome to me. I get that she didn't know Olive, but Olive was like a mother to me. Ali lost her adoptive mother and biological aunt, and Abby knows what it feels like. I know what it feels like. Wow, now that I think more about it, I have no idea how Ali feels. Sure, I lost a mother. But the betrayal that she feels? The anger? My mother was murdered by a man that dad conned. There isn't much betrayal in that, except for dad's part. But it's easy to hate someone that you're already having problems with, but what about someone you once loved.

Suddenly I look up and see Abby staring at me, with the music long gone. Great, I was thinking out loud again.

"It's not your fault, Tony. You did what Olive told you. It was either Olive or Alice. Olive made that choice for you, and she did it without hesitation."

I nod. Great, I helped Olive execute a suicide mission. Good going, Tony.

"What do you have, Abs?"

She starts to speak, but then sighs and stops.

"Abs? What do you got?" I ask in a more firm voice.

She hesitates again, but she goes to her computer and pulls up video surveillance. She presses fast forward until Lynn leaves the room. We watch as the cameras follow her to her car. She pauses it.

"Did you get a license plate?" I ask her, half smirking.

She nods and zooms in.

"Right there. Clear as day," she tells me, pointing at the plate.

I smile a real smile for the first time for who knows how long.

"She registered it under a fake name, and I should be able to tell where she is because she also bought a phone. But we can't track her until she turns it back on, so it may be a while. I'll call you with updates when I get them."

I smile and kiss her on the cheek before handing her her Caf Pow!

"Thank you, Abs."

-Bullpen-

I enter the bullpen with almost ten times more energy than I did before.

"Tony, did Abby find anything?" Tim asks.

I nod and tell him everything that Abby had told me.

He nods to me.

"Follow me," he instructs, and I do so.

We walk to the elevator together, and when we both step in, he hits the button. I instantly know what he's about to do.

"Talk to me Tony."

I open my mouth to speak, but nothing finally comes out. When I finally get the courage all I say is,

"I messed up."

Tim nods.

"You did. Olive should've had superior security, and you know it. But that doesn't mean that your intentions were bad. Tony, you care about Alice so much,"

I nod. I do. I do care about her. I'd give my own life for her.

"People make mistakes. Gibbs shouldn't have put you in charge, as much as we all hate to admit it. Olive shouldn't have kept this to herself for so long. We all make mistakes. You need to talk to her and get her through this. Alice knows that you're grieving too, and she knows that you're hurting. Talk to her, or you may lose her forever," he tells me.

I nod.

"Thank you Tim."

-Alice's house

I walk up the stairs calling softly for Ali. Where is she? She's gone! She was kidnapped and she's being tortured right now! That just plays in my mind on repeat. It won't stop harassing me no matter how much I beg it to. That is, until I hear the sound of a crying little girl and the hoarse whisper of the woman that I love trying to comfort her. They're in Erin's room.

I walk over to the door with a picture taped on it. It has a picture of Ali, Erin, and Olive all walking hand in hand. It has a messy arrow pointed at everyone's heads with the names "Mommy," "Me," and "Olive."

I smile. Olive was so beautiful. Her curly red hair was her distinctive feature. She stood right out of the crowd with her fiery red hair.

I knock on the door and open it, and the two girls on the other side look at me instantly, their wet eyes glittering in the light. Alice looks at me with slight anger, and Erin with hesitation and slight fear. It's as if she knows that Alice is mad, or that she is afraid that I'll mess up again and get someone else that she loves killed. Probably both.

"Alice, can I talk to you please?" I ask her.

She breathes in a deep breath, probably a sigh, and ponders ways to get out of talking to me.

"Mommy, I'm sleepy," Erin suddenly tells her, and Ali looks down at her and nods.

"Okay baby. Have sweet dreams," Ali tells her, kissing her forehead.

Erin nods.

"I always see Olive in my dreams, mommy. I always get to see her again," Erin says happily, as if she doesn't understand that her seeing Olive in her dreams is her mind playing tricks on her because she misses Olive, and Olive isn't actually back.

She'll never be back.

Alismiles sadly at her and a single tear falls down.

"Please tell Olive that I love her if you see her," Ali whispers.

Erin nods.

"Night mommy."

"Goodnight," she answers, then walks out and quietly shuts to door. She turns to me with anger and sadness in her face.

"Ali, I-" I start, but stop. I can't continue.

I have no way to justify what I did.

"Was wrong," Ali finished for me.

I nod.

"You gave her one agent and I had more than enough. I wasn't even under attack yet."

"Ali-"

"Don't call me Ali, Tony," she instructs.

I nod at her, with my eyes begging. I messed up, big time. Olive took me in and treated me like I son, and I repaid her by giving up on her.

"Where's Nick?" I ask, hoping that he's still here and I didn't fail two people that Ali loves.

"Getting divorce papers" she answers.

So, this is how she tells me that she's getting a divorce.

"You're getting a divorce?" I ask, and when she nods I continue, "Alice, you deserve better than him."

She smirks through the tears that stopped streaming but still threaten to fall.

"Better than him huh? Are you trying to explain to me that I deserve better, in the hopes that I'm going to break down and cry on you because of my loss, and then admit my love for you, the person who is oh so better than Nick? Nick may not be perfect, but he would've given Olive a fighting chance. Are you flirting with me, just like how you were when Lynn was killing Olive?" she asks me, bursting with anger.

"It is not my fault that Olive died, Alice," I tell her firmly, still not believing myself one hundred percent.

"You left her to die," she whispers in the most cold voice I've ever heard.

I nod, because I can't really disagree with her. When you love something, you will do the stupidest things to try and protect them. You'll even turn your back on other people you care about. All that I could think about was how bad it would hurt if anything were to happen to Ali, but not once did I think about her feelings. About how she would feel when Olive died. You can't justify my actions because deep down, I knew that if I did exactly what I did, Olive wouldn't stand a chance. I knew that Olive's life was in more immediate danger than Ali's, but I still gave the worst possible command because of the small possibility that someone could try to hurt her before Olive. How do you justify sentencing someone that you love like a mother to death because of someone else you love?

"I couldn't leave you to die, Alice," I tell her. That's the only thing that I can say to her, and it's more true than pretty much anything that I can think of.

She nods with a fresh tear streaming down.

"I didn't ask you to focus all of your protection on her. All that I asked was for you to give Olive a chance, and you couldn't even do that for me," she whispers back.

Suddenly I realize something. The second I heard of Olive's worsening conditions, I knew that she was a dead man walking. Olive asked me to look out for Ali, and that's exactly what I did. I knew Olive was already dead, so I had to protect Ali. Nothing else could happen to her.

With that, I answer way harsher than I mean to,

"Did it ever dawn on you that that woman was already on her deathbed? It was either she die then and you live, or you both die. The woman was already dead, Alice."

Ali slightly smiles again and shakes her head, with more anger than before on her face.

"I can't believe that you just said that. You gave up on her! She was a fighter, but you had already pronounced her dead! She still had a chance!"

The guilt returns. How badly can one person mess up?

"My job was to protect you."

"Your JOB has always been to protect as many people as you can, not to pick and choose who lives based on your preferences. I thought you loved her like a mother."

I did love her like a mother, though. She was the first grown woman that I ever felt loved by after mom died. She was Olive, but sometimes, all that I wanted was to call her mom.

"I did, Alice. But you don't get the point."

"What is the point then, Tony?"

I shake my head at her. If she died, I would never get over it. Olive wanted Alice to be safe, and so did I. Erin needs a mother. For all of us, I made the right choice.

So why do I hate myself so much?

"I love you, Alice. I couldn't let you die. I couldn't let anything hurt you. Olive would've wanted you to have your chance at survival."

She nods at me, and some of the anger in her face disappears, but when I look really deep in her eyes, I see more pain than I've ever seen.

"I loved you at one point too Tony. I trusted you and Olive trusted you too, but what did you do? You signed my Aunt's death warrant. And for that, I can't forgive you," she whispers, looking at me with more sadness than anger.

I look at her with begging eyes.

"Alice I'm sorry for everything. You-" I start, but Ali holds up her hand for me to stop, and I do.

She waits for a second and thinks, and then she tells me what I've always feared that she would say,

"Tony, I can't forgive you. I'm sorry but I can't, " she whispers and pauses before whispering, "You need to get out of my house."

I look at her, shocked. She refuses to give me a chance. She's afraid to love the one who killed her Aunt.

"Alice, I-"

"Get out of my house now!" she shouts, with tears streaming down her eyes.

I look at her with pain in my eyes, and I fight back the tears as I silently leave her house without another word.

I walk down the path that leads to my car, until I hear the sound of a gunshot and a sharp pain hits my arm.

Suddenly I hear rustling in the trees, and when I look over, I see the person I've been wanting to face for so long.

"Lynn, put it down!" I yell, eyeballing the woman with a gun in her hand that's pointing right at me.

She shakes her head.

"They took someone I cared about, and I'm just returning the favor."

"Put it down!" I yell.

She smiles, and pulls the trigger. I collapse to the ground in agony. I clutch the grass as blood spews out of my chest. Tears fill my eyes and I use the last of my energy to grab my gun and shoot Lynn in the head. She drops right there on the spot.

I smile weakly, with my vision starting to darken.

"Tony!" Ali screams at the top of her lungs.

She bolts over to me as quick as she can, and she puts my head in her lap. She hugs me hard, absolutely sobbing.

"Tony I'm so sorry!" She gasps through the tears.

"Alice," I whisper.

She gasps again and looks down, hugging me harder.

"Oh my God. You're alive," she sobs.

She lets me go with one hand and takes out her phone to call the ambulance.

"You're going to be alright," she assures me, and suddenly the lights go out.

For once, nightmares don't follow.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Author's Note: Hey guys! The remainder of the fanfic will be in Alice's POV. And by remainder, I mean most likely two more chapters, because this fanfic is almost done! I'm not sure yet if I'll continue the series after this, write the Blood Ran Cold sequel, or if I'll even continue with fanfiction. Actually o was thinking about rewriting Blood Ran Cold. Would be improved, extended, and include more background. If you guys would prefer one of those, please let me know. I'd love your feedback! Anywho, enjoy the remainder of this fanfic! Thank you.:-)_**

 **-Alice's POV, Hospital-**

I got to the hospital just as the doctors wheeled Tony over to surgery. He looked so pale. I reassuringly squeezed his limp hand before the doctors made me let go of him. I weakly did.

I don't have any strength anymore. I feel that weakness you feel after you have a burst of fake energy. The fake energy, the hatred that I felt, it has subsided. One of the last things I said to him was that I couldn't forgive him. I kicked him out of my house and out of my life quite fast. Truth is that I'll never forget about what he did to me. How could I? That pain he made me feel will never go away. But never forgive him? Never let him back in my life? Never even try to move on with my life? How could I do that? That thought is sickening, but what's even more sickening is that it took a bullet and the possible loss of a life to figure this out. I have every right to be angry at him, and to never look at him the same. But after all he's done for me, what right do I have to kick him out so quickly?

This makes me realize that you can't kick people out so quickly. You need to forgive, and give people the chance to redeem themselves. I nod to myself, knowing that that is the right thing to do. I'm gonna be the one to call Tony's dad and tell him what's going on. Maybe I can convince him to come...

Maybe...

Probably not...

But I take out Tony's phone anyway.

I stare at the box in my hand. Call his dad and tell him what's wrong. That's all I've gotta do. I mean, Tony has done so much to help me, so why am I making such a big deal out of this? Do I hate Tony's dad? Absolutely. But I lov-

I care about Tony. So much. Sometimes a little too much. I shake my head at the fact that I almost thought "love". I can't love him, can I?

I shake my head no. Not possible. I turn on Tony's phone and open his contacts. I stop at Tony's dad's information and open his info. I sigh and press call.

It rings for a while, and all of the sudden, I remember something that I stuffed in the back of my mind for so many years.

 _I was just a child. A sophomore in high school. I felt so old and powerful, but when I think back to it, I realize how young and innocent I really was. My father had left and my mother was dead, but I was still happy and felt loved because of Olive. I didn't know what neglect or abuse was, no matter how much I claimed to. To me it was punching children into comas and locking them in rooms for days on end. And even though that too is abuse and neglect, I didn't realize just how diverse those two can be. Tony was slapped until he got bruises, not comas. He was not cared for. He fended for himself and his dad didn't care if he roamed around. His dad just didn't care. It's not always as extreme as comas and empty rooms. But what he had was just as painful. Tony got hurt too._

I breathe in and out as I wait for the voice that I really truly hate to answer.

But when i hear what's on the other line, I get even angrier.

"Hello this is Anthony DiNozzo's phone. He's away at his office in Virginia right now and can't get back to you. Can I leave him a message?" a woman on the other side answers.

Busy as always.

"Please just tell him to call this number when he can. Thank you," I tell the lady, then I violently hand up the phone.

I shake my head. Some things will never change.

I wait for a while, and just when I started giving up on telling him, a nurse comes out.

"He's not looking too good. We're doing all we can, but he lost a lot of blood. It'll be a while, so you should probably go home and rest," the nurse tells me.

I nod.

Tears stream down my eyes as I walk out the door. I ignore the sympathetic eyes that follow me as I go to my car.

I start full on sobbing, thinking about the last things I said to Tony.

"You left her to die."

"I can't forgive you."

And worst of all,

"Get out of my house, now!"

I'll never get over the fact that the last thing I did was kick him out of my house and out of my life like trash. Just for trying to protect me. I threw him out and he walked right into he trap that Lynn set for me.

He was there because I was such a jerk to him.

He took a bullet for me.

He shot Lynn so that she wouldn't kill me.

He was put in that situation because he saved my life. Then he saved my life again. He saved my life twice in such a short period of time and I resented him and put him in danger in return.

I killed him.

I'm the reason that he's going to die.

The sturdy dam that has kept my tears and emotions bottled up for so long finally bursts. It finally explodes. Tears pour down my face and I start screaming and crying and pounding on the wheel of my car. I do that for several minutes until I finally start to just shake and moan in agony. My hands bleed from the abuse. But that physical pain can't even come close to the emotional pain. I don't think anything can.

When I finally, finally calm down, I realize what I need to do for Tony. I realize that if he does die, he would want his father there. He'd need the support of his father. It's up to his father now, and I'm not taking no for an answer. I will go over to Tony's dad's office and drag him to the hospital if I have to. I figure out where his office is, and then I start the journey over.

"You can see him," Sr.'s assistant finally tells me after waiting in the waiting room.

I hesitantly walk in, knowing that I must look crazy with the blood and the smeared makeup.

I walk up and I see Senior, with his back towards me.

I glare at the man who I have wanted to choke for thirty years. I vowed that no matter what state Tony is in, I will never physically hurt this man. I could never hurt him like that. However, I WILL stare him down every single second until one of us dies or HE gives up and owns up to his mistake. Though, I have no clue how he could possibly make up for a lifetime of neglect.

"Mr. DiNozzo," I greet.

He turns around and looks at me, shocked.

"Young lady, what may I do for you?"

He doesn't know who I am.

"Do you remember me?"

He shakes his head no.

Told you so.

"I'm Alice. Tony and I were friends," I tell him, trying to keep my cool.

He looks at me with a confused expression, until finally his eyes widen.

"Alice! Of course! But what's wrong? You look horrible."

Charming.

"It's Tony. He got shot in the stomach, sir. They don't know if he'll make it. He needs you."

He looks down for a few seconds, then he looks up at me and nods.

"Well, my deepest condolences, Miss Foster. I'm afraid that I can't do much else than to offer that."

I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Or you could be a dad for two seconds and go visit your son before he DIES!" I nearly yell, my emotions rising up again.

He shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, Alice. But I'm working right now."

I shake my head, frustrated.

"I knew it. I knew you were going to do this."

"And what exactly is 'this?'"

"'This' is selfishly holding back. I can hear it in your voice. You haven't changed, but you regret what you are, and you want him to know that. And you expect him to move on, because he will always be that little boy that you could push around and hurt with no resistance. Well guess what. I'm back, and I don't care how hard he fights, or how much he grows to resent me. I WILL protect him from you, because you will never change. It's you, as both you and I are sick to admit. You're sick, and you want to acknowldge it and try to come to some kind of closure, but you're procrastinating, because you're scared. He's right there, Anthony! He's there, and he needs his father to be his father. He doesn't need you to go over there and hold al the nurses and doctors at gunnpoint until they find some miracle way to save him, but he needs you to be a dad. That's all that he needs, and he can live, or die, peacefully. You don't need to shower him with gifts, you just need to come here and apologize, and really, truly mean it. You need a deep and sincere apology to be layd out right in front of him," I tell Anthony Sr., enraged, yet keeping the rage verbal, again for Tony's sake.

Sr. looks at me with some doubt and anger. "they never understand," he mutters, then turns on his heel to face away from me again.

Refusing to accept that, I step forward and grab his arm, making him turn around. When he turns, I see tears just pouring out of the old mans face.

"I just need some time," he whispers.

I look at him with not anger, but sheer dissapointment.

"You just don't understand. You don't have time," I explain, quickly raising my voice.

Sr. just shakes his head, and I do the same. He does it in sadness, I do it in anger.

"Your time is quickly running out. You've had his entire life to coward around, but I'm done waiting. He's in there, dying. You think that you have eternity to wait, but you're wrong. You think that Tony is immortal, but you're dead wrong. He is strong, but he is very much mortal, and he can't take this much longer. He may not be alive much longer TO take it," I tell him, desperatly clinging to the hope of changing his mind.

"Are you a father or are you not? If not, say your goodbyes, stop tormenting him, and leave. I can clean up the mess you leave behind. But if you're a father, then go up to that room and say what needs to be said. It's your choice. Don't expect a miracle out of either of us either way, espcially from me," I finish.

He shakes his head.

I grumble and put a piece of paper on his desk.

"This is the hospital he's staying at, the room number, and the phone number you can reach him at. There's also my phone number. If there's an update on his condition and you're not there, I'll call you. And if you don't pick up, I'll leave you message after message until you either answer back or come and see him. This is not the last you'll be hearing if me, Mr. DiNozzo," I tell him, and then I walk out, heading back over to the hospital.

It's been several, several hours since I've last made human contact. It's nice. I got the chance to clear my head. But now that my head is pretty much empty and I'm just numb, I want answers. Fuel, even.

Social isolation is not good for calming my nerves.

I look up and feel my face turn a pasty white. One of the nurses comes out of Tony's room. The nurse is covered in so much blood.

How much blood does a person's body hold? How much can they lose?

"Ma'am, are you here for Anthony DiNozzo?" he asks.

I nod, still petrified from the blood on the nurse's scrubs.

He looks at the blood when he sees where my eyes are focused.

"It's not as bad as it looks. He lost a lot of blood, but you came just in time. You saved him. He'll need six weeks of physical therapy, but he should be okay after that."

I nod.

"Can I see him?"

"Yes. He's going into the ICU soon, but first we're taking him to the PACU. You should get cleaned up when he's in the PACU. Don't want him to see the blood."

I nod and look at the blood on my clothes. I was so sure that I lost him. I start crying in relief. I'm going to see him again. He's going to be okay. My last words to him won't be that I can't forgive him.

"Thank you."

I got back to the hospital around an hour and a half after I left. It took me a while to find Tony's room, but finally I did.

Now here I am, staring at his hospital room with my mouth almost gaping open.

I reach out and squeeze his hand. He looks so pale. Where is that happy, bubbly man I've grown to love? I mean care about. Where's the man I've grown to care about? He's there, but he seems so far.

"Please wake up, Tony. I'm so sorry I said all of that to you. I didn't mean it. Yeah I was mad. Yes I still kind of am. But you always have and always will mean the world to me. I'm so sorry for everything. You've been my best friend since we were teenagers, even if we were apart for so long. You made me happy. You made life okay. Thank you so much for that. And please, please get better. I know you can't hear me, but you need to get better. Please," I beg.

Suddenly Tony squeezes my hand tighter.

"I'm not in a coma, Ali. I can hear you," he mutters.

I shriek and jump into his arms, hugging him tight.

"I will slip into a coma though, if you keep cutting off my air supply," he tells me.

There's the Tony I've grown to love.

I've accepted it. I love him. He means the world to me. I was so sure that my world was over, but now it seems as though it's just begun.

I laugh and let him go.

"Hey, stop crying. I'm okay now," he tells me.

I smile at him.

"How are you feeling?" I ask him.

He shrugs.

"I'm alright. Sore, but pretty good, considering the circumstances."

"Good," I whisper.

"The doctor says that I need six weeks of therapy," he tells me.

"I heard. You going to a nursing home or are you staying at home?"

Tony shakes his head.

"Nursing home. No one lives with me to stay with me."

I nod.

"Well, Nick said that he's keeping the house. Plus there are cops there right now anyway. Would you like it if Erin and I stayed over and kept you company?"

He smiles.

"That would be great. But where would you guys sleep?"

"I'll bring a blow up bed for Erin and I'll sleep on the couch."

He nods.

"You're not sleeping on the couch."

"It's fine. I'm used to it."

Tony's eyes fill with anger when he realizes that I'm talking about the times that Nick and one of his many girlfriends would take up our room for the night.

"I have an extra blow up bed. You can use that."

I look him in the eyes. He's so nice to me even though o was such a jerk to him.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

He stares at me for a second.

"Because I care. And because if I could right now, I'd jump into your arms. Because I love you," he whispers.

I smile and lean over. I kiss him on the lips, never wanting this moment to end.

A few seconds later, I hear a grunt. I look back and see Gibbs.

"Oh. Hi Gibbs," Tony says, embarrassed.

"Hi. Tony," Gibbs starts, then looks at me, "Lovebird."

I smile awkwardly.

"Alice can you wait in the hall? I need a moment alone with Tony and then a moment with you."

Tony and I look at each other with fear.

Gibbs rolls his eyes and smirks.

"No it's not about the kiss. Now get outta here," Gibbs tells me, trying and failing not to smile.

I blush in embarrassment and walk out.

A few minutes later Gibbs comes out.

"McArthy," Gibbs greets me.

"Gibbs," I greet back and then correct, "but it's Foster now. Nick and I are getting divorced."

Gibbs looks at me and almost smiles through the shock.

"Oh. So that's why you were kissing Tony."

I shake my head.

"I was kissing him because we both have strong feeling for each other."

He nods.

"You're right I didn't mean it that way. But I actually came here to talk to you about something else. You saved Tony's life, and you have been a valued member of the FBI for many years. I see that you have resigned."

I nod.

"Too many memories."

He nods.

"Oh I get it, trust me. But what I was getting at is that you would make a great addition to our team," he tells me, handing me a paper.

I look at it. It's an application.

"Our team could use someone like you. Tony could use someone like you."

I smile.

"I'd love to."

Gibbs smiles back.

"But there is a rule on our team. Coworkers are not supposed to date," he tells me.

Oh.

I look down, disappointed. But this is stupid. How can I be disappointed over something I could never have?

"But every rule has an exception," he tells me, with a smile on his usually frowns face.

I look up at him in shock.

"I just talked to Tony about everything and let me tell you, that man loves you. And I can see by the way that you look at him that you love him too. I couldn't be happier for you guys."

I smile so wide and I look into Tony's room. He's looking at me, with the same smile on his face. It's as if we're telling each other the same thing with out little telepathy skills. We're telling each other what we never thought we'd ever be able to say again. But now it's so real and so there.

We're gonna be okay.

 ** _Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! There will be an epilogue, and then it'll be over. Again, please let me know if you'd like to see the next fanfic in the series, the Blood Ran Cold sequel, or the Blood Ran Cold redo next. Thank you. :-)_**


	8. Epilogue

**_-Alice's POV, One Month Later-_**

I pull up to the FBI building and just stare. I used to love this place. It was my safe place. My friends were there. I could go and relieve my stress at any time. Olive was there. It used to be my world.

Now, it's just so sad and empty.

All I can think about are the tears shed when people are told that they will never see their family members again. The sometimes agonizing interrogations. The look of disbelief on criminal's faces when they get caught. My dead Aunt's crying face when she sees a dead young girl being autopsied. I don't see the joy anymore, even though it's still there.

I walk to the building anyway. I go straight to my team's office. I haven't picked up Olive's things yet. I was too busy helping Tony.

I decide to go through her computer. She had personal pictures on her computer. I knew, but come on. Do you really think I'd have the heart to tell her?

I pull up the pictures and see an album that immediately catches my eye,

" _Alice and Tony."_

I smile and click on it. Every picture that she took of us was on it. Every one. She always supported me through everything, except with my decision to stay with Nick. You know how a lot of adults say that high schoolers can't fall in love? Well, she agreed with that. For the most part. Though she agreed that most high schoolers don't feel love, she firmly believed that I loved him and he loved me.

I start looking for one picture and when I find it, I tear up a little. When I see it, I suddenly remember one of the best moments of my life,

 _I was a junior in high school, and Tony was a sophomore. We had been best friends for a year, with him coming over everyday. His dad was arrested for credit card fraud, so Olive volunteered to take him in when his dad was in jail._

 _Olive pulled up in the driveway, with Tony in the back seat. When I saw Tony get out of the car with his suitcase, I realized that my best friend was going to be living with me for a while. I smiled and ran over to him. I jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly._

 _We went inside and Olive stopped us at the door._

 _"Okay you two, smile," she suddenly said, pulling out her camera._

 _He hugged me and gave a goofy grin to the camera, and I had an exaggerated annoyed expression._

It was one of the best days of my life.

I smile at the computer as a small tear falls down my face.

I've always been so grateful for that. She was such a sweet and caring lady. She deserved so much better than the fate she got. She deserved a long and happy life, not this.

But at least her wish was granted. Tony and I aren't really "dating," but we're very close. It's just not time right now.

But I'm sure that someday soon, that time will come.

I near Tony's apartment and I hear shouting. A lot of shouting.

Then I had glass break.

I pull out my gun and race to the door. I wip the door open without any hesitation and point the gun at the noises.

"Don't shoot! He's drunk!" Tony shouts.

I look at who my weapon in drawn at. Tony's dad is staring at him with crazy, blood shot eyes. A broken wine bottle lays right next to Tony's feet. I look at it, and his dad answers my unasked question.

"I threw it at him, okay. You can stop acting like the perfect over-protective girlfriend. He's fine. I came to talk to him and all he wanted to do was blame me. Apparently I ruined his childhood. So you, little miss sunshine, weren't even good enough. Even if you spoiled him behind your boyfriend's back," Tony's dad shouts.

"Dad, that's enough," Tony tells him sharply.

"You need to leave," I whisper to him.

Tony's dad looks at me.

"You have no right to tell me what to do, missy. This is my son's apartment and you have no right to kick me out of it," he answers.

I look at Tony with expectant eyes. It's time for him to stand up for himself. He's let his dad hurt him all his life, but it needs to end. And I can't do anything else to make it end.

"She's right, dad. You need to leave," he whispers.

Tony's dad looks at him with cold eyes and walks over.

"She's ruined you, Junior. You used to at least be of some use. Now look at you," Senior coldly states.

Senior shakes his head.

"You won't be hearing from me again," he states and then walks out, stopping only to shoot me a dirty look.

After the door slams, I go straight to Tony, still staring at the door.

"Tony?"

He doesn't move.

"Did he hurt you?" I ask.

"No, he didn't hurt me."

I frown.

"Tony, you care too much. He doesn't deserve your love," I tell him.

Tony nods.

"He's still my father."

I tear up and hug him.

I know how he feels.

My dad was abusive toward my sister and I after we lost my mother. He didn't know how to handle it. So you can say that we have the same roots. Even through it all, I still managed to love my father. I still wake up in the middle of the night, crying. All because I miss him.

I thought I was doing Tony a favor. I feel awful. His dad is just a horrible, cruel person. And he will never change. Why did I even bother when it wasn't even my business.

Then I realize that it is my business. Tony's my world. He deserves only the best. If anyone gives him anything less than that, then I'll step in.

It's my job.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Ali," he whispers.

I nod, unable to find my voice.

Erin fell asleep a couple of hours later, so Tony and I decided to watch a movie on the couch. At the beginning of the movie, Tony pauses it and looks at me.

"So, I've been thinking. It's great having you and Erin here. I know Nick kept the house, so you've gotta go house hunting soon. I was thinking, and why don't we go house hunting together?" He asks me, with a slight smile on his face.

I stare at him in shock.

"You wanna live together?"

He nods.

"Yeah. It's been lonely lately, and you need a new place. Sure the co-workers will never let us live it down especially since we're not "together," but I think it would be nice," he explains, sounding embarrassed.

I look over at Tony. I'm not mad at him anymore. How could I be? He doesn't fully have my trust anymore, but I'm sure he'll win it back with time. And he's got all the time in the world to get it back, because I know the answer to his question.

"You're blushing," he tells me, smiling.

I roll my eyes.

"Shut up. But fine, we can live together since you insist," I tell him, with heavy sarcasm.

Truth is that I'm very excited now.

He smiles and kisses me on the cheek.

I smile back at him.

"But on one condition. We break Gibbs's no dating your co-workers rule," I tell him, smiling.

"Just can't handle the DiNozzo charm, can't you?"

I frown dramatically.

"But I'd love to break that rule with you," he answers back, with a grin on his face.

I smile back. A lot has happened through in these past few weeks. We've struggled a lot together in general, actually. We've stuck through all of it, and we'll get though all that comes, too.

And I can't wait to see what adventures fate has in store for us.

 ** _Author's Note: Well, that's the end of this fanfic. Thank you guys so much for reading! I've decided to rewrite Blood Ran Cold, and the rewrite will include a sequel. There will be more action and it won't be as much of a love story as it was at first. I hope you like it. Goodbye for now,_**

 ** _-Anne Tutusuvich._**


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